Que Sera Sera
by Rockrgrl4
Summary: Kankuro of the Sand has fallen for Haruno Sakura of the Leaf, but refuses to acknowledge it, despite Sakura's obvious interest in him as well. Will he let go of his pride and be happy with her or lose perhaps the one chance at love he will ever have?
1. Chapter 1

"Oh Kami I've missed you," he whispered, pressing a kiss softly behind her ear. "You're everything I've thought about since I left."

She nuzzled her nose into his neck, grabbing fistfuls of his hair. She pressed her body into his, almost desperately. She brought her mouth back up to his, pressing heated, fervent kisses everywhere she could. On his face, his mouth, his lips…

He grabbed the back of her head and brought her back to his lips, capturing her in a passionate, heated kiss. A groan escaped his mouth and he grinded his hips into hers, already feeling his member's hardness. A growl escaped his throat, and a need was making itself known A need for her, to protect her, to love her, to make her happy. He pulled her back to look into her face, his hand gently caressing her cheek, softly, lovingly. He stared into her deep emerald eyes, and reveled in them. Her face, flushed as pink as her hair, was heated as she grew more and more flustered from his kisses. Her lips, so soft, so decadent, were swollen. Her chest was heaving in an effort to regain her breath and her eyes closed for just a moment, to savor it.

So beautiful.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, taking in his face, and brown eyes stared back with such passion and intensity, but with overwhelming tenderness. His hair was wild and unruly, poking out of his cat-mask, which was tilting off of his head, askew. Arms were around her waist, pulling her tighter to him, and she felt his hot breath by her ear and shuddered. "Kami, I love you…" he whispered hoarsely, trying to disguise the longing and the need. Trying, and failing miserably.

For, in truth, as much as it had hurt his pride to admit, she really was everything to him. She calmed him down when he was mad, made him laugh, made him _happy_. No other woman, with all the crappy relationships he'd had before in the past, had ever succeeded in doing that. One look at Haruno, Sakura, however, and Kankuro of the sand completely melted. Everything that ever was, every bit of his past, present, and future worries disappeared, leaving only her left in its place. Her face, her laugh, her smile…

Oh, but of course it had hurt his manly pride at first. To think, that he, Kankuro of the Sand, the great puppet master, and one of the three fierce protectors of Sunagakure, would give up everything-his name, rank, and _life_, for one girl, all because he fell in love.

What was he, a sentimental fool?

No.

He would make her leave…that was his solution. She was here on a mission to help improve Suna's medical core since it very truly was a joke. He would just tell her to pack up, that they've got it all under control. He was in charge of the project anyway, according to Gaara, his younger brother and Kazekage of Suna. He made his way to the hospital, where she'd been working non-stop, hours at a time, to help out his village. He slowed his steps and faltered a bit…

No! She cannot stay!

And he continued on, his anger rising in every step. He would deal with this now. _Right_ now.

He pushed his way through the main doors, up the stairs and to her office and threw open the door to find…

A sleeping Sakura, bags under her eyes, head resting on a mountain of paperwork and looking utterly beautiful.

Oh, God dammit.


	2. Chapter 2

Heyy guys! :D

So it's me again…and I'm back with another chapter! With not necessarily the number of reviews I've been getting, but the number of views my first chapter had, I reconsidered and decided to write this chapter, and continue. I've spent several days writing this one chapter, trying to get it to work out. For some reason, I just couldn't get it to work out, so I kinda put something together out of the versions I wrote. Sorry if you don't like it, but as I said, I wasn't expecting to continue so here we are. Haha! Well anyways, hope you enjoy! And again, sorry it's so crappy.

* * *

Haruno Sakura had always thought the transition from the fire country to the wind country was beautiful. Starting from her home, Konohagakure, the landscape was thick with green. The climate in Konoha was mild, and although it would occasionally get hot, it was suitable for many species of plants, herbs, and trees to grow. As a result, the environment surrounding Konoha was lush, green and lively. However, it could feel suffocating. Sakura knew that firsthand.

The whole area was surrounded by forest, and while the trees were beautiful, it enclosed the village like a vise. With the help of the cliffs, of course, the village felt like a trap; it felt as if the village had a chokehold on all enclosed within its clutches. Everyone could feel it, and Sakura could especially feel it because she was a shinobi.

If you were a shinobi-no matter what village you belonged to-you were controlled. Shinobi were told what to do with their lives, when to leave home, even when to put their lives at stake. Order had to be obtained.

In the wilderness, Sakura was free. At least for a little while she could breathe, and pretend to be herself. That idea in itself added to Sakura's enjoyment to leaving the village (for missions), but the real treat was the desert.

But first, she had to have a reason to go there.

Then, it came to her.

Tsunade, the fifth Hokage of Konoha and Sakura's ex-mentor, had given her a mission to Suna.

For a whole year…

Sakura smiled.

Her mission was to train Suna's medics, and hopefully make an impact on the efficiency of their hospital. Sakura had reviewed the reports of the progress of their patients, and she almost snorted. The ratings truly were terrible. Firstly, the staffing issues had to be confronted. Civilian doctors being overworked and having to tend to injured shinobi? That simply wasn't acceptable. For minor wounds, sure, but not serious ones, because their chakra networks could also be damaged and need to be repaired. Only a steady amount of chakra could do that, and only trained shinobi medics could control chakra. Shinobi need shinobi medics, period. If the need arises, shinobi doctors could tend to civilians, but the need for that is rare.

Suna must really need some help in their medical department, and that made Sakura all the more eager to get to her destination. Pumping chakra to her feet, she continued on her way, although this time at a faster pace than before.

When you get past the forests of Konoha, there are many rolling green hills and pastures, perfect for farmland. There, you could also find a wide variety of herbs and flowers. Konoha medics and often genin teams were sent here to collect the plants that could not be stored or grown in Konoha's greenhouses. Sakura also spent much of her apprenticeship in these fields, taking what she would need to concoct whatever complicated medicines and salves her shishou would demand of her. More than once, the two women, mentor and apprentice, would roam the fields, and discuss the potential uses for each plant.

That was years ago, however, and Sakura had already far surpassed the old woman.

Yes, she had far surpassed the old woman…

…the old woman to whom she owed her entire career. She truly owed her shishou a lot. One day, she would make it up to her.

Eventually, when you emerged from the meadows and the rivers and other water sources started dying off, you would reach the border between the fire and wind countries. Though most would think that the border would be heavily guarded with shinobi, most borders are not. The great shinobi wars had hit everyone's numbers pretty hard. It is impossible, with the numbers available to most villages right now, for there to be shinobi stretched across that wide of a distance and the border to still be heavily guarded. Thus, there are only a select number of guard towers and bases set up on each side for border patrol.

Which made crossing borders undetected ridiculously easy…for shinobi, anyway.

It is here, on the border, that the grass slowly dies away, and plants and other greens become sparse. The water sources dry up the further you continue, and with the region getting so little rain…

There is sand.

A vast ocean of it splays out across the landscape, moving and rippling as the wind soothes the body from the almost unbearable heat. The sand shifts, moves, slinks and crawls. It flows along, caught in the winds current, being pushed around and told what to do.

The sand reminded Sakura of herself. It seemed as if she and the sand had a lot in common.

The whole of the landscape was sand being blown around an endless horizon. There were no obstructions like trees or shrubs or grass to get in the sand's way. Each grain could be carried off into the breeze, and Sakura envied it. The sand was free to go anywhere.

It was free.

The sand had hope. The sand had opportunity, with no obstructions. The sand was carefree.

Yes, Sakura envied it, and she loved the desert because of it-because of all these reasons.

Either way, Sakura unwrapped the cloth that was protecting her face from the sand and wind. She was nearing the giant, looming structure of Suna's main gate.

Haruno Sakura had arrived in Suna.

~~~~~~The Night Before, In Suna~~~~~~

In Suna, Kankuro of the sand was staring out at the starry night just outside of his room. From where he was standing, which was on the balcony outside of his quarters at the Kazekage mansion, the sand's shifting made it look as if the ground itself was moving. Under the faint glow of the desert moon, each sand particle reflected the dim white light, and when this sensation accompanied the wind shifting the sand, it truly did look like an ocean. Waves of the glittering sand crashed upon dwellings and walls, building up into piles and shifting away just as quickly, disappearing.

Kankuro thought life was like that, too.

The sand-the physical evidence of the life we all live-is blowing around all the time. Constantly, the sand is moving, shifting, slinking, taking hits and whatever else life throws at you. The sand bounces light off its back, while fighting the many currents of the wind. Each current wants the sand to go its own way, until finally it gets thrown together in a pile, overlooked and a nuisance to the people who just have to move it out of their way in the morning.

The sand was much like himself, Kankuro mused.

There was a constant light shining on him, whether someone needed his help or just glorifies him because he is the Kazekage's brother, and the former Kazekage's son. They throw him into the spotlight, and he nearly drowns in it. Then he has to fight the currents of the wind-those who determine his future-the village elders, in other words. They are always and forever will be trying to control the lives of himself and his siblings. Who they will marry, what duties they will perform, it didn't matter to them, as long as they got their way, and someone was always left unhappy. On every subject, there were at least four different opinions, like the wind shifting from different directions. It was constantly fighting to control which way the sand will move until there's no where it can go, until it turns out to amount to nothing, and ends up forgotten.

Yep, that about explains his life right now.

Kankuro was trapped in the Kage mansion and Suna. Everything and everyone only saw him by his rank, or by his lineage. Nope, nothing mattered to them but name and rank.

It did not matter that he was a human being, and did not wish or need to be used by people claiming that they loved him, in order to brag about how "far they got" with Kankuro of the Sand. That happened often.

It also didn't matter to them that he was a _shinobi_, bound and set on protecting his village at the cost of his life, no matter how many times they screwed himself and his family over.

That was saying something in itself, and yet, still nobody cared.

At least, until she came along.

Sure, she was only doing her job and all, but damn it, she_ cared_. She cared that his little brother "the monster" had been captured, and even died. She cried over Chiyo's body when she sacrificed herself to save Gaara, and she hardly even knew Chiyo! They had only met hours before!

She_ cared_…

She had tended to Kankuro himself when he had almost died from Sasori's poison. He remembered that very well. Hours had dragged on and on while pain tore through his body. Even in his sleep, he dreamt of pain. It ripped through every cell in his body. He could feel his organs slowly shutting down; he was slowly deteriorating.

Kankuro had honestly thought he was going to die…

…Until it all stopped.

When he awoke, the first thing he saw was green…a beautiful, jade green. It was swimming in his mind.

Green-The color of life, of rebirth. It was his new favorite color.

It was also the color of her eyes. How fitting.

She changed his life. She showed him his life could be different.

Haruno Sakura-The medic kunoichi from Konoha.

She was the former student of the Godaime Hokage, and she was the top kunoichi in her academy class.

She was ridiculously smart.

She had perfect chakra control.

She had vibrant pink hair, and jade eyes in which you could lose yourself.

Even with this information, he still wanted to get to know her, to befriend her.

He wanted to be close to her.

It looked like he was going to get the chance.

She was to arrive in Suna tomorrow to train their medics, Kankuro remembered from the briefing earlier. Temari, Kankuro's older sister, was to be her escort/guide around Suna, and Kankuro was to make sure both Sakura and the hospital staff behave. She had a renowned temper, Gaara had mentioned, and he wanted as little trouble as possible. Sakura was also to give her reports to Kankuro, and Kankuro was to report to Gaara from there.

'So basically, I'm in charge of the operation, but I tell Gaara what's happening while Temari takes her shopping,' Kankuro groaned, 'Just great. So if something goes wrong, it's my ass, not hers.'

Although Kankuro's mind was racing, he knew he had to try to sleep. She was going to be here tomorrow, after all, and he needed to be rested to greet her.

He didn't know why that frightened him, but it did.

He didn't understand how a girl he had only met a couple of times (and actually conversed with on an even fewer number of occasions) could affect him so. He was a shinobi; he shouldn't be getting worked up over a kunoichi…

…even if said kunoichi was gorgeous, and once saved him from death.

Confused, alone, and angry at himself for being so weak, Kankuro went to bed.

A few minutes later, after much tossing and turning, the boy finally fell into a peaceful sleep, and a content expression crossed his sleeping face. Only in his dreams was Kankuro of the Sand truly happy, and a small smile crossed his lips as an image of his green eyed angel appeared in his dreams.

* * *

Hey!

So if you didn't read the caption above the story, read it. Lol. I spent quite a bit of time writing this chapter, and I came up with a couple of different scenarios of how to get this going. But, unfortunately, I didn't like any of them. They just…didn't seem to fit. So I kinda threw this together from both versions I experimented with, so I'm sorry if this seemed…dodgy. I did try, though…but all well. This was just the intro to Sakura and Kankuro meeting, anyway. Now that she's in Suna, I should be able to work with this some more, and turn it into something decent. I would have completely scrapped the intro, but I wanted to establish the setting and the mood of the story, you know? This way Sakura and Kankuro's feelings are all laid out and we know exactly what their lives and thoughts are like before they meet. Anyway, its late and I want to get this posted, so let me know what you guys think!

-Kasie.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! So I'm finally updating again! ^^

Sorry about the inactivity lately. School just started and I've been really busy trying to get re-organized. I'm going to try to update more often now, but…don't count on it. ^^

I'll REALLY try, I promise.

Anyway, here's chapter 3 of Que Sera Sera! Enjoy!

-K.

* * *

"Kankuro-san, Haruno-san was due here over an hour ago-" a Suna gatekeeper began.

"I _know_ that," Kankuro of the sand snarled at said gatekeeper, "People run late all the time. Stop saying it!"

Kankuro was getting anxious. He hadn't seen or heard from the leaf kunoichi yet, and she had been due here over an hour ago. It wasn't like her to be late…perhaps something had happened?

'No,' Kankuro's reasoned mentally, 'if she was in trouble she would have contacted one of our villages for assistance.'

….but what if she had been kidnapped?

'Good lord, Kankuro, get a grip on yourself. She is a kunoichi, not a child. She can take care of herself.'

Regardless of the comfort that statement brought to his mind, it didn't quell the tightening in his chest, or slow his erratic heartbeat. Wait-tightening chest? Erratic heartbeat? What the hell was going on with him?

Before Kankuro had the chance to consider his symptoms, however, one of his guards called out, "There's somebody headed our direction. Everyone, eyes on the horizon, at two-o'clock!"

Kankuro immediately whipped around and stood up a little straighter. He was her escort, after all, and he was to appear professional towards her on behalf of his village.

Too bad he lived in the desert, or surely he would have noticed that his hands were sweatier than usual.

Soon enough, a heavily cloaked figure (heavily cloaked to prevent sand from getting in the hair, clothes, and eyes) stood in front of the gate and slipped it's hood back, revealing a beautiful young woman with bright jade green eyes and a mess of vibrant bubblegum pink hair. The gatekeepers asked her a few standard questions and she answered them gracefully, thus allowing them to gain her entrance into the village. As soon as her gaze shifted away from the two gatekeepers, her eyes met his. Time stood still for a moment between the two, before Kankuro recovered and quickly extended his hand with a greeting. "Welcome to Suna, Haruno Sakura." The jounin smiled. "It's been a while."

The rosette smiled gently at him, and returned his welcome with a nod and a smile. "Indeed. How are your brother and sister?" She politely asked.

Somewhat taken aback by her immediate concern for the welfare of his siblings, it took him a moment before replying with, "They are well. Gaara wishes to speak with you, and Temari as well. Only she will wait until after you've spoken with my brother, of course."

Chuckling lightly, Sakura amusedly replied, "Hai. Lead the way, escort." Sakura laughed lightly and punched his arm playfully.

Kankuro was shocked even further. Not only was she teasing him, but she was accepting his family as if they were old friends! He was liking this girl more and more. She was already unlike anything he'd ever previously encountered.

Although, admittedly, his arm wasn't, and Kankuro now had to act like that punch hadn't hurt at all. It seemed her reputation for her monstrous strength preceded her.

On the way to the Kazekage's offices the two exchanged polite banter, asking about how their lives have been since they last saw each other. They talked about each other's villages and Kankuro's family. They even talked about his recovery and her late arrival, which was caused by a late start earlier that morning. She had stayed overnight in a small inn Kankuro was familiar with, and there had been a small scuffle there this morning; Someone had accused her of being a tramp, and Sakura "dealt" with the young man before returning on her journey, but three men-the man who'd called her a tramps' lackeys-followed her, and she'd had to lose their tail before continuing on her way.

"So it sounds like you had an eventful trip." Kankuro joked, although he was inwardly filled with rage at the thought of someone calling her a tramp. She was the kindest, sweetest, most innocent person he knew. She was so far from a tramp that it was ridiculous.

"Yeah," Sakura giggled, "Totally eventful. Three days alone in the wilderness with no one to talk to but my backpack. Yep, it was definitely full of adventure."

Kankuro put on a shocked face. "You talk to your backpack?" He asked in horror, and Sakura busted out laughing.

After taking a deep breath, Sakura blew out again and chuckled, "Oh man, I haven't laughed like that since I saw Lee chasing Kiba around the village screaming, 'Oh the joys of springtime youth!'. Kiba and Hinata are together now, you see, and that was Lee's way of congratulating Kiba on asking her out. Well, Kiba just ran in the other direction and Lee went after him until Kiba threatened to burn every green piece of clothing he owned, including his jumpsuits."

At this, Kankuro was also laughing. "Are you serious?" He choked, trying to find a chance to breathe between laughs.

"Yeah," Sakura grinned, "There's more, but I'll tell you later."

Kankuro looked over at her, frowning, and asked, "Why not just tell me now?"

Sakura looked at him, confused. "Well, isn't that Kazekage-sama's office building right there?" She asked perplexedly.

Kankuro shifted his gaze away from hers to inspect a large three story dome shaped structure looming over the city. There were several windows, peering out to take in Suna, whilst simultaneously providing the citizens the tiniest opportunities to see inside as well. It was quite impressive, with its large, heavy doors and many shinobi guards were posted around its perimeter. Above the doors was an inscription for all to see, "The eyes of Suna are watching", along with the Kazekage's insignia below said inscription, both of which were comfortably perched above the doorway.

Well, damn. He hadn't even been able to hear about Lee.

Although something nagged him in the back of his mind that it wasn't Lee he had wished to know about.

After Sakura's meeting with Gaara, Kankuro was to take the kunoichi to the Kazekage's mansion-the three sibling's own place of residence-because she was a valued ally to Suna. Under the jurisdiction of the treaty signed between Suna and Konoha, the two villages' shinobi were now to work together and help each other out-as every member of each village should do. As Sakura was not only a symbol of this treaty, but the highly praised medic apprentice of the lady Godaime Hokage, she was given a much higher status. It also helped greatly that she had helped to save both he and his own brother the Kazekage's live as well. Therefore, she was to stay in their own home, as a special, high-priority guest to Suna.

Kankuro didn't know how he felt about that.

Having the same woman he'd been dreaming about sleep under the same roof as he after 7 years was unsettling. He would have to get over it, however. She was a guest helping out his village, and the least he could do was show her proper respect.

So now, as Kankuro waited outside the Kazekage's office for Sakura's meeting with his brother to end, Kankuro replayed their meeting over and over in his mind. She had gotten very beautiful over the years-even more so than he had last seen her, in fact. She had filled out much more-both her chest and hips were generously proportioned and her creamy skin was smooth and unblemished. Skin such as hers was uncommon for shinobi, since they were exposed to conditions civilians never had to experience. Her pink hair was still short-it seemed she had kept it that way all these years-and her eyes were still a brilliant jade green. There was something missing from them, however. The sweetness and innocence that had once been there 7 years ago had disappeared. There were worry lines on her face, and her beautiful eyes appeared happy, but only those close to her could discern otherwise. Yes, something was missing from them.

And Kankuro wanted to find out what, for reasons he himself didn't understand.

After she emerged from Gaara's office, Kankuro nodded wordlessly and motioned for her to follow him. She nodded back to show she understood, and fell in line beside him. He didn't try to make conversation with her again, because he knew she would want to take time to consider her mission and the orders she had just received. So, naturally, when she spoke up and started talking to him again, he was surprised.

"Kazekage-sama said you are to be my escort now full time, rather than Temari-san," Sakura stated, and grinned at him, "Are you sure you're up to it?"

Kankuro scoffed, "Oh please. I've had enough escort missions in the past to know how women are. I don't think you'll be any worse than what I've already seen."

"Oh, I don't know," Sakura laughed, "I've been told I'm pretty difficult when it comes to shopping. Of course, my best friend is the one that forces me to go most of the time." Sakura chuckled to herself, "And she practically lives with shopping bags glued to her side."

"That Yamanaka girl?" Kankuro asked in mock-horror, "You're not like _her_, are you?"

"NO! No, no, no," Sakura laughed again, "I'm a lot more controlled when it comes to shopping. Besides, if I do go, I usually know exactly what I want beforehand. I don't like to spend all my time in stores." Sakura scowled, "I have better things to do with my time."

Kankuro faked a sigh of relief, which made the corners of Sakura's lips twitch.

"Well thank Kami," he breathed, "I don't think I can handle another one like that. I once had an escort mission for the Daimyo's daughter. It should have taken us about 3 days to get to our destination, but it took us two weeks because she had to shop at every single store she saw. We started the mission with a single cart and 3 escorts, and by the time we got her safely home we made up a whole caravan."

At that, Sakura cracked a grin, "Well, prepare your carts then, sir. We're going shopping."

The volume of their chatter and laughter gradually increased until they came upon the sand siblings' home-the Kazekage mansion. Like the other buildings in the immediate area, it was dome-shaped with many open windows, only much, much larger. There were four stories to the mansion, with a wing on each side. Each wing jutted backwards rather than forwards as most traditional buildings are made, and other than the actual building itself, the land was pretty barren. Without any plants or any other sort of vegetation, landscaping wasn't really possible. Sand covered the ground, and with every breath of the wind it shifted. Dirt and debris flew everywhere. Although, even with all of these inconveniences, Sakura still thought it had a homey feel to it.

"Well, this is the front entrance," Kankuro's voice dropped to a gruffer, professional tone, "There are others, but there are shinobi guards stationed at every door. They are always there, although they rotate in shifts, so it might not be the same person every time."

Leading her around to the sides and back of the mansion, he showed Sakura where everything was. Every entrance, every add-on, and she even met a few of the sentry's. Beyond that point, Kankuro started the indoor tour.

The first thing Sakura saw was the kitchen. Everything was high-tech and new, which was to be expected, but they had _servants_. Tsunade-shishou didn't have servants because of the risk they carried. It would make it so much easier for enemy nin to get close to private information or people in general if they could play the part of a servant or maid. Therefore, she highly disapproved of keeping them. She only kept those she absolutely trusted-such as her niece, Shizune-san-close to her. That way, if someone tried to impersonate her, Tsunade-sama would absolutely be able to tell that it wasn't her, because she had known her for so long and knew how she acted.

Which is why it was so shocking Gaara-sa-uhh, Kazekage-sama, would keep servants; he must have really been trying more and more to trust people.

Beyond the kitchen, Kankuro showed her all the different floors and where everything was-including their absolutely _astounding_ library-and finally, on the 3rd floor, Kankuro showed her to her room.

"Well, this is it," Kankuro finally said, "Sorry for the long tour, but I wanted you to at least get the gist of where everything was. Your room is here," he nodded to a room conveniently located in the center of the hallway, "and mine is right there at the end of the hall. We each had a floor to ourselves, until Temari moved out two years ago. Ever since then it's just been me and Gaara. Gaara's room is on the fourth floor, the one right above us. No one really ever goes up there, and there's nothing up there except for spare bedrooms, which is why I didn't take you up there." Kankuro flashed a grin, "I didn't think you would mind." Pausing for a moment before continuing, he shrugged. "But seriously, Gaara likes his privacy, so we don't bother him. Anyway, if you need anything, I'm right there," he nodded, indicating the room at the end of the hall again, "or you can ask a guard or even Gaara, if you ever catch him at home. Your things were brought up earlier, so they should already be in there waiting for you."

Sakura smiled and nodded her thanks, "I'll see you in the morning then? I mean, since you're going to have to show me where the hospital is?"

Kankuro nodded, "I'll be at your door at 7:30. Don't be late."

"I won't," Sakura promised, "Thanks again, Kankuro."

Kankuro nodded once again, and turned away, heading for his own bedroom. As soon as he had turned his back, Sakura turned the knob and entered her own room.

Her heart almost stopped right then and there.

A huge room with exquisite, expensive furnishings stared back at her, and Sakura's inner let out a girlish squeal of delight.

The walls were painted a deep maroon, with golden accents to the trim and curtains. A chandelier hung simply from the ceiling, and a large bed was conveniently located off to the side. A closet was on the opposite side, along with a dresser and a large body mirror. Behind the bed was the door to bathroom, which was relatively small but still extraordinarily lavish. A step-in dark brown tiled shower was in the center, with a toilet and sink on either side. The theme in here was dark tile with silver accents, and it was beautiful.

"Kami. I may never leave." Sakura whispered in awe, spinning in a circle in the middle of the-her-room. Eventually, once the shock wore off, she started laughing happily and fell backwards onto her new bed; arms sprawled out beside her head. She was absolutely thrilled.

This was more than she could have asked for-a chance to help people by using her medicinal gifts in another village away from Konoha. It was like a vacation for her-going away from Konoha, but with the chance to still be able to work. She was staying in a fancy room-in the _Kazekage's mansion_ for Kami's sake-and having the time of her life.

This was going to be a good year.

* * *

Kankuro was lying in bed, flat on his back and arms behind his bed, thinking.

Just what was this girl to him? He couldn't stop thinking about her…

Her hair was beautiful, and looked so soft.

Her eyes were swimming with earthy green hues, and it was so easy for him to drown himself in them…

Her body was enticing. Never in all of his 23 years had he ever been so drawn to anyone or anyone's body like he was drawn to hers. She was an enigma, a pile of questions unanswered. Why was she so kind? Why was she so different? Why did he constantly think and dream of her?

And why the _hell_ was he reacting to her being here this much?

Sighing to himself, Kankuro rolled over and slid underneath his covers. It was going to be a long night, he knew.

And sure enough sleep evaded him as surely as the cause was a certain pink-haired angel just yards away.

* * *

Hope you guys enjoyed!

Leave me stuff lol! Cuz I g2g! :D

-K.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys!

So I'm back with another chapter! Sorry about the wait, but I've been REALLY busy, and I hope that this was worth it! hope to update soon, but season has started so we'll see lol. :P anyways, enjoy!

-K.

* * *

Sakura awoke, startled by a loud thumping sound. Instantly, she sat up, alert, and looked around for her weapons pouch, which was inconveniently located on a chair opposite of her. Cursing, she leapt from her bed at a dead run, but as soon as she reached for a kunai the noise sounded once again and she recognized what it was. Someone was knocking at her door. Frowning, the kunoichi mused to herself, "But Kankuro isn't supposed to be here until 7:30…" Instinctively, she glanced at the digital clock beside her bedside and her eyes widened with surprise. It read 7:40.

"SHIT!" the rosette screeched, as she instantly bolted toward her bathroom, snatching up her toothbrush while simultaneously reaching for her deodorant.

**~*~TIME SKIP~*~**

"Kankuro, I'm so sorry!" Sakura apologized for the umpteenth time. "I was so impressed with the room last night I collapsed on the bed and I must have forgotten to set my alarm-"

"Sakura,_ enough_," Kankuro replied amusedly, a hint of laughter in his eyes, "I said it was fine 15 minutes ago. Stop apologizing already."

The two shinobi were currently making their way down a bustling Sunian main street towards Suna's apparently discreditable hospital. While the rosette hurriedly chattered away, commenting about the buildings and the different vendors they were passing, Kankuro was reminiscing about Sakura's hurried attempt at getting ready. He had been standing in the hall outside Sakura's door earlier this morning and had heard her unusually loud cursing through her door. While he had waited there for her patiently, he had had a really difficult time of containing his amusement. It was obvious that Sakura had awoken later than she had expected, despite her attempt at trying to convince him otherwise. When she had opened her door and walked into the hallway with a bright smile and confident stride, she was still wearing her silky pajama top. Kankuro had had to will himself pretty strongly not to laugh at that. With a miraculous amount of effort, he had somehow managed to calmly point out that she might have to change shirts, despite the fact that he himself didn't mind. This effectively silenced her claims of being "ready to go" as she had so put it, as an angered expression appeared on her face at his perverseness. Still angered, she managed to glance down to see what she was wearing, and her expression quickly changed to one of utter horror. The rosette made a noise somewhere between a growl of annoyance and a "Meep!" of surprise, and turned and strode back into her room; another stream of curses soon following.

A single phrase soon brought the sand jounin out of his thoughts, interrupting his train of thought.

"I really am sorry-" the rosette interjected.

"Sakura," Kankuro said firmly, "I'm honestly tired of discussing this. You have nothing to be sorry for. Now quit apologizing or I'm liable to get angry at you." The sand shinobi stated, maintaining a serious tone, but somehow simultaneously managed to make it slightly teasing.

"I'm sorr-" the rosette started instinctively, but caught herself and immediately snapped her mouth shut. Kankuro shot her a warning look, but said nothing. After that, the conversation became non-existent, and they continued walking on in silence.

After a few minutes, the silence became almost painful for the both of them, and they both started,

"So-"

"How-"

Silence immediately followed. Surprised, they both exchanged glances and continued,

"What were you-?"

"You-"

They both stopped walking and turned toward each other, looking at each other questioningly. Sakura gave her escort a light chuckle and said, "You first." Kankuro smirked and replied, "Alright. I was just going to ask you how you like your room." He phrased his response tentatively, ending the sentence with an unspoken question.

Sakura's responding smile was huge. "I love it. When I walked in there, it felt like I was…important. The room is huge, and so lavishly decorated, and I loved the bathroom fixtures, and-" She broke off, her expression suddenly sheepish. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I'm just not used to all the special treatment, and-"

As soon as she had apologized, Kankuro had sent her an obvious pointed glare, reminding her of their former "agreement". She only caught this halfway through her rant, but when she finally glanced up at his irritated expression she quickly silenced herself, and effectively cut herself off mid-sentence.

"What," Kankuro growled, "did I _just_ tell you about apologizing to me?"

Their arguing increased both in intensity and volume as they continued, growing ever closer to Suna's medical hospital. Soon enough, Kankuro and Sakura's shrill protests had drawn the attention of Suna's citizens. They looked at the sand jounin and the rosette next to him with a great amount of curiosity-they had never seen the middle sand sibling this taken with a woman before. Granted, he would talk to them-and plenty of them-but never for this long, even if he was arguing with them. He would usually only talk with them long enough to earn their trust and to "get what he wanted from them", and he had never talked to the same girl two days in a row. Not once. Yet he had been seen hanging around with this leaf medic for several days now.

Curious. Very curious, the Sunian people mused.

**

* * *

**

TIME SKIP: 2 WEEKS LATER

It's true what they say about time flying when you're having fun, but the opposite is just brutally and unbearably true as well. Whether you're waiting on a certain given moment or just bored and hoping time will soon pass, the hands on the clock are virtually at a standstill.

As Sakura pondered that old saying, she also considered the value of time. In 10 minutes, Sakura Haruno can heal a broken leg or arm or successfully diagnose a walk-in patient in the clinic. She can set a cast or fully bandage a person's entire torso and prep them for major surgery. She can even fire a doctor or two, sign the papers, and still have the time to box up their belongings and punch them out the front doors. However, the one thing she could _not_ do is stare at the clock mounted above her doorway for another second!

Angrily, Sakura huffed at herself. She knew, she _knew_ she shouldn't have given the pediatric records to the OB nurses, because now she didn't have any work to do! 'Damn it,' Sakura growled internally, 'Now what am I supposed to do?'

Yes, it's true. Sakura Haruno had officially worked herself to the bone…and apparently still had meat enough to spare. It was almost laughable, actually, and-if you really thought about it-predictable. As we all know, Sakura is a workaholic, and as such is constantly working on something. There comes a time, however, when there simply isn't any more work left to do, and Sakura had somehow managed it for the day…

…with 10 minutes left to spare.

Anyone else in this given situation would have happily picked up their coats and skipped out the door whistling a happy tune…happy-_grateful_, even-that they could leave work early after a job well done. Yet, Sakura is a workaholic, as already mentioned, and is very…abnormal…in that sense.

So, with her not-so-natural refusal to leave work early, Sakura was posed with very few options. She could A) pick up around her office or B) walk downstairs to yell at some more people.

Funny. Has Sakura ever mentioned that she hates cleaning of any kind?

Removing herself from her office, Sakura quickly made her way down the hall, a mischievous smirk apparent on her face. She was mapping out the route she would take in her mind: first, she would head to the 3rd floor-maternity ward. After checking up on the nurses there, she would see if the obstetric doctors were progressing on the procedures she had just taught them this morning. Then, she would continue down to the 2nd floor to the ICU, and make sure the idiots weren't still using water to wash off the blood on victims cuts-honestly, haven't they ever _heard _of disinfectants? Or, you know, infections at all, for that matter? Then she would continue on to the first floor surgical areas and monitor a couple of procedures…

A hard body bumped into her at that moment, halting her steps and interrupting her train of thought. Annoyed, Sakura looked up, only to find the middle sand sibling staring down at her, with an eyebrow raised and an amused smirk on his face.

Sakura's eyes narrowed with annoyance. "Kankuro-san," she started, "what are you doing here?"

Kankuro feigned a hurt expression. "I'm shocked, Sakura-san," he continued, a frown evident on his face, "I didn't know you didn't want me around…" He trailed off, apparently still hurt. The melancholy expression on his face appeared so genuine-if Sakura hadn't known Kankuro the way she did then she would not have known he was faking. Still, she was tired of his games, and replied, "Cut the crap Kankuro, seriously. Now what do you need?"

The male maintained a stoic facial expression, although a flash of something Sakura couldn't identify briefly flickered in his eyes before disappearing. "Jeez Sakura," Kankuro snapped, anger lacing his tone, "I'm here to escort you home. And to take you to dinner, since neither myself nor Gaara will be home tonight, and the servants have been notified not to make our meals."

Embarrassed and ashamed of herself, Sakura apologized. "I'm sorry, Kankuro. I had no right to snap at you," she sighed, "thank you for coming." She smiled. "Really. I appreciate it, and I didn't mean what I said before."

As quickly as it had appeared, the annoyance and anger on Kankuro's face had disappeared, and his former cheer was for the most part restored. "Alright then," he happily declared, "Are you ready to go?"

Sakura thought back to her former plans; nothing seemed important enough that it needed to be done right now-the terrorizing the staff part, especially. If anything, delaying it until tomorrow would give Sakura more time tomorrow to mess with them. A mischievous grin once again found its way onto the rosette's face.

Kankuro, not oblivious to her change in mood, took note of her expression. "Whoever it is that has that look directed towards them," Kankuro carefully stated, "then I _so _do not want to be them at this moment." Kankuro put on a brave front, but secretly he was hoping that she was not thinking of him while wearing that smirk. He had a feeling some form of torture would result from it, and it wouldn't be pretty.

By this time, the two had made their way outside of the hospital building, and Sakura had steadily grown more curious about where the two were headed. "Where are we going, Kankuro?" She asked, only to be met with silence. "Kankuro?" she repeated.

More silence.

"Kankuro!" Sakura angrily exclaimed, "You have until the count of three to answer me, or-"

The sound of Kankuro's rumbling laughter cut off the rest of her sentence, and for some strange reason Sakura couldn't be mad at his stupidity. Instead, she found herself chuckling with him. However, when he finally came to a stop and turned to face her, a grin on his face, she couldn't resist the urge to punch him-hard-in the shoulder.

"OWWW!" The Sand jounin whined, "Sakura, what was that for?"

"For being stupid," Sakura stated, fighting to keep a straight face at his childishness. "Now _as_ I was saying," she started, "_where_ are we going?" She folded her arms across her chest in a stubborn move, refusing to budge until he gave her the information she wanted.

"Just around the corner," Kankuro finally answered, "It's one of my favorite places, and I figured you would like it." Rubbing his shoulder where she had punched him, he frowned. "Damn Sakura," she whined again, "that really hurt."

Barely holding back a wicked grin, Sakura challenged, "Good. Now maybe you'll know better than to mess with me."

Kankuro opened his mouth as if to reply, but almost immediately closed it as if he had thought better of it. Shrugging, Kankuro instead replied, "Whatever you say, Sakura." After a few more feet the burly middle sand sibling stopped in his tracks and announced, "We're here."

Sakura looked upwards at the simple dome-shaped restaurant. It was exactly the same as the other buildings in the vicinity, except that there was a sign in the doorway that advertised the business's name and the specials for the day. It looked simple enough; there were no flashing signs or advertisements on the walls like you would find in Konoha, but, Sakura supposed, when their walls were made out of sand they couldn't exactly do half the things that Konoha business owners could. Upon entering the restaurant, Kankuro led them to a booth towards the back. Sakura was surprised to see it didn't have very many places to sit. Rather than being a large business, it was a rather cozy place to be-contrary to what she had thought Kankuro would prefer.

Well, wasn't he just full of surprises?

After seeing the look on her face, Kankuro chuckled. "I've loved this place since I was little. It's one of my best memories of my father. He took me here a couple of times when he had time off work, which was rare. Temari almost always went with us. Gaara would stay at home-he was much too young to be out in public yet, as my father told us," Kankuro smiled sadly, "I had no idea, even at such a young age, of what my father was plotting, or doing to Gaara. Temari didn't either, or we wouldn't have allowed it to happen. Even though he was the Kazekage, we still could have done something for Gaara, rather than stand by in fear and watch everything happen. I guess it's true what they say, though. Ignorance is bliss." Kankuro reached across the table and grabbed a couple of pre-placed menus, handing one to Sakura.

Surprised at Kankuro's sudden and almost intimate revealing of himself, Sakura felt the need to reassure the puppet master. "Kankuro," she started, "What happened to Gaara-it wasn't Temari's or your fault. You two couldn't have done anything to stop it even if you tried-"

"The Yakitori here is great, if you want to try it." Kankuro interrupted and immediately went silent thereafter, studying his menu.

It was then that Sakura knew that Kankuro blamed himself for Gaara's hardships. 'He is so hard on himself,' Sakura thought to herself, 'He has to know that he couldn't have done anything about Gaara's situation at so young an age, yet he insists on shouldering the blame. Why, though?' Sakura questioned herself as she watched him order. She was so deep in thought she didn't hear the waitress ask her for her order until Kankuro nudged her on the shoulder and she absentmindedly ordered the first thing on the menu. She didn't miss the waitress's attempted sexy wink at Kankuro as she left, though. The action made Sakura scowl.

Inwardly laughing, Kankuro watched as Sakura shot the waitress a dirty look after she had left the table. She truly was different, Sakura was. She wasn't like the other girls-she was more mature and serious. Sakura wasn't the type to mess around, and Kankuro could easily tell that from her work ethic. She worked non-stop. From dawn to dusk she was at the hospital, and when she finally returned to the Kage's mansion she always stayed up late with paperwork spread out all over her bed, the lamp on her desk forever providing light. For this reason, Gaara had asked him to take her out tonight. She was working all the time, and Gaara didn't want her to wear herself out. She was a guest of Suna, after all, and she "Needs to take a break before she has a nervous breakdown", as his Kazekage had said. Kankuro resisted the urge to snort. He knew what Gaara was really up to. He was just trying to get Kankuro and Sakura out of the house so they wouldn't notice his absence for the night. Gaara was probably doing something with Matsuri again, and didn't want anyone to bother them. "Eh, Whatever. More power to him." Kankuro shrugged, and finally came out of his thoughts. He didn't realize that he had said that out loud until he had heard Sakura's question of "What are you talking about?"

"Eh heh heh," Kankuro sweat dropped, and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand in an embarrassed move, "Nothing, Sakura. So how's work?" He asked, hoping to change the subject. While he was sure she knew he was deflecting, he wasn't really in the mood to divulge information about his little brother's love life. And even if he was, he didn't particularly want to die by his little brother's hand.

"It's fine, I guess." Sakura suspiciously eyed him, before playing along with his conversation change. "I've been pretty busy, but we're making a lot of progress," she beamed, "many of your medics here have potential and a great amount of talent. I can't wait until we get started with the more difficult procedures-it's going to be exciting to see what they can do! First I think we'll start with procedures like Cricothyrotomies, and then we'll move on to the more common ones. Appendectomies, C-sections, Tonsillectomies, Vasectomies…"

"W-O-W! Okay, okay! I get it," Kankuro loudly interrupted, cutting her off before he could get more uncomfortable than he already was. Thinking about vasectomies was not something a man wanted to do before he ate his dinner; he could lose his appetite rather quickly. Before she could say anything else he interjected, "I take it you love your job, then, huh?"

"Yes!" The rosette practically squealed. "I love the fact that I'm helping people get better, and that I'm making a difference in people's lives. The only part I don't like, is, well…" she cut herself off and paused for a few moments as if to consider her words, before quietly finishing, "when I lose someone. Then it's like I failed them…both my patients and their families and friends. I have a responsibility being the doctor, and then I have to inform the families when they pass away or that they're not going to make it or that there's nothing more we can do," she tiredly buried her face in her hands, "it's the worst feeling in the world, because then you feel incredibly powerless-like nothing you do is ever going to make the world change or them get any better. So you have to just sit there and watch them fade away until all that's left is a memory."

With the mood between the two officially sour, neither knew what to say to the other, so they settled on sitting in silence until their food arrived. When it did, the two happily dug in to their dishes almost ravenously, and Sakura found that Kankuro wasn't kidding when he said the Yakitori was delicious. She practically tore into her food; she hadn't eaten since breakfast. When she stopped for a moment, though, and looked up to gaze at Kankuro's plate (he was eating something American-a cheeseburger and fries, she thought she'd heard him say when he had ordered), she couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up through her lips. Kankuro stopped his eating, with a fry handing out of the side of his mouth. "What?" he asked, after he had hurriedly devoured the rest of his fry. "Did I get something on my face?" He took his hand and wiped it across his mouth, trying to wipe off a non-existent food item. This only increased Sakura's near-hysterical laughter and it only made Kankuro more self-conscious. "Sakura, really," the sand shinobi whined, "what is it?"

Sakura held her hands wrapped around her stomach-she was laughing so hard-and she took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Finally, she managed, "You looked like a starving animal, scarfing down that food. Sorry," she apologized, seeing the hurt look on his face, "I'm not saying that in an insulting way. It was actually…kind of cute." She grinned.

"Hn. Really?" Kankuro smirked, "Then get used to it, because I'm going to start eating like that all the time, just for you. Chicken? I'll eat it with my fingers. Fries?" He held up a fry in front of him, demonstrating what it was at her look of confusion. "I'll suck them off the plate." He set said fry down on his plate, bent his head over it, and sucked in a tremendous amount of air before it went into his mouth. After seeing Sakura burst out laughing again, his grin grew even wider and he continued, "Ramen? Psh. I have no need for chopsticks anymore, because Sakura, you've just given me permission to face-bowl that bitch!"

Sakura was now doubled over, her head sticking outside of the booth and hanging out in the aisle. The two were now making enough noise that the restaurant's patrons were now watching the two-especially Kankuro's obscene and vulgar eating habits. The younger children were laughing at the two, trying to mimic Kankuro, while their parents frantically lectured them to eat their food properly and to put their plates down. The elderly customers of the restaurant merely shook their heads and sternly muttered "Kids these days", while continuing with their own meals.

Soon enough, the two had finally calmed down enough to start eating again, but as soon as they had taken another bite, the store's manager had come to stand at the edge of their table. "Excuse me, sir. Madam," he nodded at Sakura, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. The other customers' are…uncomfortable…with your behavior, and I've had several complaints in the past few minutes. It's nothing personal, Kankuro-sama," the man bowed to Kankuro, "the two of you may come back at any time. It's just not good for business for you to stay." The man gave them an apologetic look.

"Nah, that's okay Jiro-san," Kankuro addressed the man, and resisted the urge to laugh. He wiggled his eyebrows at Sakura to try to ease some of her embarrassment, "We'll go. But do you think we can have some boxes to take our food home with?"

* * *

Laughing, the two made their way away from the restaurant, to-go boxes in their hands. "Oh my God," Sakura breathed, "That was so fun. It was embarrassing to have to have been thrown out though." She laughed again. "I've never been thrown out of anywhere before. You must be a bad influence, Kankuro." She shot him a teasing grin.

"Oh yeah, that's it," Kankuro snorted, "You better stay away from me, Sakura…Now it's all fun and games and getting thrown out of restaurants, but tomorrow you could be wrapped up in my illegal drug trade…whoops!" Kankuro pretended to cover his mouth in horror after she started laughing at his illegal drug trade comment.

"Drug-trade, eh?" Sakura laughed, "I'd have thought you were a pimp or something-in charge of Suna's prostitution ring."

At that, the two kept on joking, prodding at each other back and forth, until Kankuro and Sakura had finally returned to the Kage mansion.

'Oh crap,' Kankuro thought to himself, 'we weren't supposed to come home for a while…'

"Hey Sakura," Kankuro started uneasily, "Uh…we technically aren't supposed to be home yet, so do you want to eat in the basement? That way we can stay out of their-err-Gaara's way. He's a little busy tonight, and that's why he wanted me to take you out to dinner. He's entertaining guests tonight."

"I see," Sakura replied, and eyed him suspiciously, "Well then, I suppose we can." She smiled, and almost immediately her smile grew into a mischievous smirk. "We'll leave Gaara and Matsuri alone…for now."

Startled at her knowledge about his little brothers romantic life, Kankuro decided not to ever let her into his own personal affairs. Rather than press the matter, which he knew would only end in many prying questions on her part, he decided to just grunt his agreement. Making sure they hadn't been seen, they stealthily made their way around the house, and snuck in through the darkened back door. After stepping through the threshold and seeing no movement within the shadows, they crawled through the darkened kitchen silently. Turning into the hallway, they looked swiftly to their left and saw no one, but on quick inspection to the right, they saw two guards posted outside the dining room door-a sure sign that Gaara was in there. Another clue alerting the two to the Kage's presence was the muffled sound of laughter and voices coming from the room. With a muted curse, Kankuro pressed both Sakura and himself back into the wall and motioned for her to go back into the kitchen.

"What are we going to do now?" Sakura hissed. She had no desire to die by the Kazekage's hand, especially when she was on an ambassadorial mission. Talk about an embarrassing report that will reach Tsunade-sama if she would get caught; Sakura would never live that down.

"We'll have to go the other way around," Kankuro whispered, "we'll have to be careful though. I mean it Sakura; if we get caught he's going to make my life a living hell…"

"He'll make _your_ life a living hell?" Sakura growled, "What about mine-"

"Yeah yeah, yours too," Kankuro hurriedly explained, keeping an eye on the guards at the dining room door, and making sure they hadn't moved yet, "But it'll be 1,000 times worse for me, trust me."

* * *

The two were laughing, the now empty boxes that had contained their dinner were spread open at their feet. They were now in the basement, and stretched out with several blankets and pillows that had come from the empty chest in the corner of the room. The two weren't lying together-there was only a few feet of space between where they lay with their own separate covers. Sakura smiled, propping her head upon her hand, her elbow supporting its weight on the floor. "I don't know how we managed to get down here," Sakura snickered, "but this is somewhat fun. We should do this more often," she giggled.

Kankuro snorted, "Yeah, definitely. We should sneak in my own house more often, whilst simultaneously avoiding my all-powerful younger brother, who could throw us in jail for the stupidest made-up offense if we get caught. What a thrill!"

Sakura turned her head into her pillow to suppress her laughter. Kankuro just smiled at her childish display and rolled over onto his back, staring towards the ceiling.

After Sakura caught her breath, she caught Kankuro's expression as he stared up at the ceiling. "What's wrong, Kankuro?" She asked, concern lacing her tone. She shifted her body until she faced him fully, giving him her full attention.

"Nothing, Sakura, I was just thinking; This is the most fun I've had in…well…ever. So I guess I'm saying thank you for hanging out with me tonight, Sakura." He smiled, and she thought she saw something flicker in his eyes before it disappeared almost instantly. "It means a lot to me."

"Hey, not a problem," Sakura smiled, "I've actually had more fun in the past few hours than I've allowed myself to have since-" She broke off, "well, since about 6 years ago, actually. So I guess I owe you a big thank you too." With a happy grin, she rolled back over onto her stomach and curled up under her own covers. She turned her head to face away from Kankuro as she rested it on its side, and muttered a appreciative, "Good night Kankuro" before closing her eyes.

"Hey, Sakura, wait-" Kankuro almost agitatedly answered, and reached out to roll her back over to where she was facing him.

Groggily, she answered, "What Kankuro? I'm tired…" Her hair was now just ever so slightly messed up from where she had lain on the pillow, and she really did look tired. They had been up for several hours talking, and it was late, Kankuro knew, but he just wasn't ready for her to fall asleep yet. He wanted to talk to her more.

"I know, Sakura, and I'm sorry, but…" he trailed off, and his gaze landed on her pale pink lips. They looked so delicious and plump, and the only thing he wanted to do at that moment was lean in and capture them with his own…

…and right at that moment, the basement door flew open, and the next thing they knew both Matsuri and the Godaime Kazekage himself were standing at the top of the basement stairs.

"Oh," Matsuri's hands flew to her mouth in shock and embarrassment after seeing the two wrapped up in pillows and blankets on the floor. Suddenly she felt very uneasy, and with the realization that she was caught in a very embarrassing situation herself, her legs gave out and she started to fall backwards. Of course, Gaara caught her and helped her stand back up, keeping his arms wrapped around her for support. Turning his gaze to meet his older brothers, he kept his face stoic, but managed to convey to him a message that only had a small hint of anger in it. "Kankuro," the younger sand sibling called out, "I need to have a word with you upstairs for a moment."

Kankuro resisted the urge to bury his face in his pillow and beat his fists on the ground. 'SHIT!' his mind cursed. This was SO not good…and Sakura was a ambassador, too…she could get in trouble…

Steadily, Kankuro got to his feet and walked up the stairs to where his brother and Matsuri were standing. With a quick nod to the female, he motioned for Gaara to lead the way out of the basement. Sakura remained downstairs, smothering her beet-red face into her pillow.

After the two boys had shut the basement door behind them, Matsuri managed to catch her breath and breathe again. When she looked down the stairs, she could see Sakura curled up, her head buried in her pillow in embarrassment, and even Matsuri couldn't help but reassure her.

"Sakura?" the young kunoichi timidly questioned, "Are you okay?"

Sakura barely lifted her head from her pillow and feebly managed, "Yeah, I'm just great Matsuri, thanks."

Matsuri actually had to resist the urge to giggle when Sakura stood up and wearily gazed at the Kazekage's younger student. She looked like she'd had a heck of a night. After her giddiness subsided, though, the brunette gazed down at the pink-haired woman and frowned. "Wait," Matsuri exclaimed in confusion, "You're…still dressed? So you and Kankuro didn't-"

"NO!" Sakura said forcefully. Upon seeing the frightened look on the younger girl's face, however, the rosette sighed and said, "Sorry. This just isn't the best scenario to be in."

At this, Matsuri merely raised her eyebrows at Sakura, which caused the rosette to almost-_almost-_laugh.

"Oh," Sakura smiled, "Right. I guess we're in the same boat, then."

Matsuri actually laughed at that. "Yeah," she grinned, "I guess we are."

* * *

"I should have known that it was you," Gaara started, "I was informed that my brother was acting foolishly at Ichiro's restaurant tonight, but I never expected it to escalate to this! She's an ambassador here _on a mission_ from one of our allied nations, and you're _sleeping around with her_ like one of your common-"

"Enough, Gaara!" Kankuro heatedly argued. "I have not done anything with Sakura. Nor would I ever put her in a situation that would question her honor."

At that Gaara snorted. Yes, Gaara of the sand actually _snorted_!

"Really?" Gaara questioned, skepticism written all over his face, "should I tell that to the rest of those girls that you've brought in here to have a romp with and then left at dawn's first light?"

"You," Kankuro fumed, barely managing to control his anger, "_Really_ need to learn your place, Gaara. As if you have any reason to lecture me about inappropriate relationships! What about you and Matsuri, huh? And how many times have you slept with _her_?"

Suddenly, Kankuro found himself with his back shoved against the wall, and his little brothers' hands on his throat. "Don't," Gaara spat, "Bring Matsuri into this. If you want to live, Kankuro, then don't."

"Why not?" Kankuro rasped, "It's the same thing. You just need to realize what you're doing before she gets hurt again."

At that, Gaara dropped his hands from his brothers' throat, his eyes vacant from being lost in thought. Kankuro took this opportunity to massage his throat with his hands tenderly, trying to soothe the pain surrounding his neck.

"I have thought of that many times," Gaara started, "Yet I cannot seem to keep myself away from her. I think-" he cut himself off, as if afraid to finish his original sentence, then finally settled with, "I think she is important to me."

"If she's so important to you," Kankuro said, "Then why do you drag her around like this all the time? You even threw me and Sakura out of the house in an attempt to hide her, when we-everyone-already knows. You are trying to hide your relationship, and by doing so are failing miserably."

Gaara bowed his head in defeat. "I am aware of that," Gaara admitted, "But I still cannot stop seeing her. My mind says to stop, in order to save her from the threats and the trouble," he fisted his hand, and brought it up to his chest, "but this is what my heart says, here. To keep her there, and to never let her go."

Kankuro smiled, genuinely happy for his little brother, and put his hand on Gaara's shoulder. "I'm glad, Gaara. I really am happy that you have found someone to make you this happy. Yet, I'm a little disappointed that you seem to think of Sakura and I as this big of a threat to your relationship with Matsuri." Gaara looked up, startled, and Kankuro continued, "Oh, don't play dumb with me, Gaara. You blew up when you saw the two of us downstairs, which, by the way, we weren't doing anything but eating dinner and talking." Kankuro sternly finished.

Gaara gave Kankuro a crooked smile, "I am aware of that," he said simply.

"What?" Kankuro practically yelled, "Then why did you-"

"To mess with you," Gaara shrugged, "and to warn you to behave yourself. She may be your friend, but she is still a guest medical ninja here to help our own program. If you develop a serious relationship with her, or even have a fling, that affects both of our nations."

"I am aware of that, Gaara," Kankuro sighed.

"I know," Gaara nodded, "and I understand that. Still, Kankuro, behave. I don't relish the fact I have to remind my older brother of this."

Sighing, Kankuro decided to nod his acceptance rather than continue to press the matter. It was just easier that way.

With a final nod, Gaara turned on his heel and strode back to the basement door. He kept moving with a certainty in his stride until he stopped at the door and placed his hand on the knob. He turned to face Kankuro, his gaze positioned at the floor, and muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "Oh, and by the way, Kankuro. I didn't see anything if you didn't." With that the redhead opened the closet door, turned, and disappeared into the basement, leaving a dumbfounded puppet master in his tracks.

* * *

Hello again, guys!

It's me, and I don't have a whole lot of time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm going to post it as it is right now. If you see any mistakes, let me know! Love you guys, and thank you to my faithful alert(ers)!

-K.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is up! Enjoy! :3

-K.

* * *

It had only been a few agonizing, painful moments since Sakura and Kankuro had been caught in the basement together, and Sakura didn't know if she should worry about being caught or not. After Gaara had collected Matsuri and took her to another room in the mansion (Sakura could only guess where…that mansion was huge!), Kankuro had helped Sakura clean up the food boxes and put away the pillows and blankets on which they had lain. He was silent the entire time, and his expression was vacant-his thoughts had been drifting elsewhere. Sakura knew that he probably needed time to think through whatever he was considering, but she didn't want it to be that moment. She was still there, after all, and Sakura didn't like being ignored.

So when the two of them made their way silently up the stairs, and right before Kankuro opened the basement's door, Sakura asked him, "Kankuro, what's wrong? Are you in trouble?"

Kankuro, finally coming out of his daze, sheepishly replied, "Honestly? I don't know. But I suppose I'll soon find out."

After that, he fell silent again, and Sakura knew that was probably what had been worrying him. She felt unsettled by this realization. Surely if she hadn't been there with him, he wouldn't be in trouble. If she hadn't been hanging out with him, they wouldn't have been thrown out of that restaurant and caught in the compromising situation in which they had been. She knew she shouldn't have felt guilty-Kankuro had confessed that it had been the most fun he had had in a long time, and she felt the same way, but now he was in trouble and he was worried about it. She felt terrible about it.

They were passing through the library at this point-the same library that never ceased to amaze the pinkette. She had always been impressed with the many mountains of books that were stored in this very room, and she smiled in spite of herself. She absolutely _had_ to take a day off one of these days and curl up on one of the chairs in the corner and read…

Her gaze drifted to the many different sections of books in the Sand Sibling's collection, and while many of them didn't surprise her, some of them did. Especially the collection of books entitled "Romantic Fiction".

She resisted the urge to snort. Which of the three siblings would read that?

As they passed by the shelves of the said collection, the copies, sure enough, were indeed battered and strewn about. They had been taken care of, sure, but someone had put them away in a hurry, and some were even stacked on top of the neatly arranged horizontal rows of books, indicating they had been picked up and returned in a bit of a hurry. Sakura was suddenly puzzled. Someone _was_ reading cheesy romances, and since she hadn't had a chance to raid them yet, it had to have been one of the three siblings-but whom?

She hadn't had much time to ponder the thought, though, because Kankuro was now leading her out of the enormous library, and back into one of the many hallways adorning the mansion. They stepped into the dimly lit hallway, and Kankuro suddenly spoke, "You're awfully quiet, Sakura. Are you okay?" His tone was tinged with concern.

Sakura, suddenly abashed, quickly answered, "Sorry Kankuro. I'm fine, just thinking."

Kankuro's hand subconsciously moved toward hers, but he violently yanked it away before she would notice-or so he had hoped. His hand had brushed hers for a moment there. If she had noticed it, though, she gave no indication. She was still looking ahead, her expression set into a faraway gaze. He fumbled to cover up his uncharacteristic reaction to her words, and eventually managed, "What are you thinking about, then? You look like you're pretty far away." He turned his gaze toward her, a smirk firmly planted on his face. Inwardly, however, he was silently and frantically praying that he wasn't freaking her out.

Sakura shrugged and answered, "Eh, you know. What I'm going to do tomorrow at work, what happened at the restaurant earlier, what happened with Gaara and Matsuri-why are they trying to hide their relationship, anyway? It's pretty obvious that they like each other…" Instantly and reluctantly, her thoughts drifted to a moment ago when she felt Kankuro's hand brushing against her own. What had that been about?

Sakura quickly decided she didn't want to know, and banished the thought from her head. '_Focus on the present_,' she reminded herself, '_don't worry about the past_.' It had been one of the first things she had learned from Kakashi-sensei. Sure, you should never forget the past-she had witnessed her distraught sensei at the Leaf's memorial stone more than enough times to understand that lesson-but there was another lesson within watching him repeat that same action. If you dwell on the past-on things you couldn't change-they will consume you. Therefore it was better to concentrate on the time you had left, rather than that which you have lost.

Her thoughts moved to this past evening, and, in fact, it truthfully had been one of the best she had had in a long time. She had Kankuro to thank for that-and Kankuro alone. He had made her laugh, and he had taken her out tonight. They had snuck into his own home, and been thrown out of a restaurant-behavior Sakura would have never dreamed about prior to tonight. It seemed that Kankuro really was bringing out another side of her.

And that scared the pink-haired leaf kunoichi.

What was she to do now? Hanging out with Kankuro was changing her-and the very definition that she held of herself. She was the Hokage's apprentice-a good, loyal, well-behaved kunoichi who never did any wrong and was a good example for people everywhere. Now here she was hanging around none of than the Kazekage's brother, and getting thrown out of places, wreaking havoc and causing trouble-_and she was on an ambassadorial mission_. So shouldn't she be feeling even the _slightest_ bit ashamed of herself? Maybe the other part of her was, but why wasn't she now?

When Kankuro had brushed his hand against hers a moment ago, why had it sent shocks of pleasure throughout her body? Why does his presence around her make her feel warm and fuzzy, the exact opposite of what she _should_ feel?

Sakura had a theory-a horrible, nasty, potentially career-ending theory. Was she attracted to Kankuro of the Sand- a much older jounin, a _Sand _ninja, and _brother to the kazekage_? As Sakura mulled this thought over, she quickly realized she had already known the answer.

She was.

She was attracted to him-and worse than that, she…_liked_ him.

The more logical side of her resisted the urge to beat her head repeatedly against the wall. How stupid could she get? Although she had yet to know the details of his previous "relationships", she could take a pretty accurate guess. Just judging by the way he acted, and the way the other girls in the village looked at him-some with lust, some with a scorned hatred-he was not exactly the best boyfriend material. This was bound to end in disaster...

…exactly as it had 6 years ago. Sakura couldn't prevent her head from ducking down. Luckily Kankuro didn't notice, though. He was still busy going on about Gaara and Matsuri. It was a good thing that he was still talking, or he would have noticed her misery. Six years ago was when she had confessed her feelings to Sasuke, and on top of denying her feelings, he knocked her out and left her on a bench, taking the opportunity to make off into the night and defect from their village.

Not that she thought Kankuro would ever do that sort of thing, but Sakura was petrified. Ever since that incident, she had been afraid-deeply afraid-of letting anyone that close ever again. She had learned from that rejection-and from that incident-that it wasn't worth the hurt to go through that again. Thus, she was afraid of going through that level of heartbreak again. What was she to do now? Did Kankuro honestly return her feelings? Just what was she to him? Was she someone who he would want a serious relationship with? Or did he just want a romp in the sack?

Sakura resisted the urge to panic. This was Kankuro…she _knows_ him, and she knows how he is. She knew that however he may act with the other girls; he wouldn't jeopardize the alliance between their two villages for nothing. He wouldn't want to just sleep with her and risk both of their jobs for nothing…right?

Right.

So therefore, Sakura made the decision to trust him…for now.

By this time, they had made their way to the 3rd floor-to their rooms-and Kankuro had stopped with Sakura at her door. He awkwardly shifted his weight onto his other leg, and he casually shrugged his shoulders and slipped his hands in his pockets. "Thanks for hanging out with me tonight, Sakura," he grinned, "I had fun tonight. Really."

Sakura returned his grin with a smile, "Me too Kankuro. And thank you for showing me around, too." She ran a hand distractedly through her hair, and she glanced at her door. Suddenly, the fatigue in her expression was apparent, and it alerted Kankuro to just how late it was. It had to have been about one in the morning already. Still, he couldn't help but think to himself how cute she looked like that. Even though she was tired, with her hair all messed up from running her fingers through it, he could still see the cherry tint to her lips, and the way her eyes shined. She was beautiful.

And without fully knowing it or understanding why he did it, he took a couple of steps and closed the distance between them. He wrapped his right hand around her waist and pulled her flush against him-there was no space in between them. Her breasts were pressed against his chest, and he resisted the urge to groan with satisfaction. Her eyes grew wide and she only had the chance to gasp out, "Kankuro, what-" before he brought both hands up to cup her face and hungrily pressed his lips to hers in a passionate and fierce kiss.

Sakura was conflicted only for a moment before she automatically melted into his kiss. She brought her right hand up, knocking off his hood and running her fingers through his thick brown hair. She wrapped her other arm around his neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss, and they both moaned, each taking pleasure in the feel of the other. Instinctively, he pushed his lower half into hers, and she could feel his already rapidly hardening member through their layers of clothing. Groans erupted from the contact, and he pressed his lips to hers even harder, if possible. The kiss soon turned to one of pure lust, and the two were fiercely combating each other over control of the kiss. Sakura licked his bottom lip for permission and he obliged, but soon took over. They were battling for control, each wanting to taste the other, and unsurprisingly Kankuro won. Suddenly, Sakura pulled away to breathe, and Kankuro finally came to his senses; he had finally realized what he had been doing. He gasped in shock, his eyes widened, and he instantly stepped back, putting space in between the two again. He frantically tried to apologize, barely managing, "Sorry, Sakura…I…didn't…I…have to…Night!" He quickly turned around and quickly walked back to his room. He fumbled for the key he kept in his pocket, and hurriedly unlocked the door. He couldn't step into his room, though, because Sakura was still standing in front of her door in a dazed state, her lips swollen from his kisses, and still trying to regain her breath. As he took in the exhausted, confused kunoichi, something happened that had never happened with any other woman before. His heart melted.

"Aw hell," he grumbled to himself, and he jogged back to Sakura, taking her face back into his hands. "Sakura?" He questioned somewhat hesitantly, wanting to make sure she was okay but secretly hoping she wasn't angry.

That seemed to do the trick. At the mention of her name, she perked up. Her gaze lifted to meet his, and although she was still breathing rapidly and her eyes were glazed over, he knew she was still paying attention to him. He smiled softly at her current state, and gently took her lips with his once more, softly soothing her confusion and worry. When he pulled away, he kissed her forehead softly and whispered, "Goodnight, Sakura. Sleep well," before he slowly removed his hands from her cheeks and brushed his hand against her hair.

Before he could mess anything else up, he quickly turned on his heel and walked toward his room. When he reached the door, he turned to her and smiled softly once again, and a flicker of something Sakura couldn't identify flashed in his eyes, before he disappeared through the door and into his room. It wasn't until the door closed behind him, shutting him away completely from her view until Sakura finally whispered, "Good night to you too, Kankuro."

Dazedly, she turned and fumbled with the lock on the door until it opened. She stumbled into her room, too exhausted to comprehend anything, until she collapsed on her bed. Within minutes she was asleep, taking with her the images and memory of what had happened in the hall only minutes before.

It would surely be hell in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 is up! Enjoy!

-K.

* * *

When the first light broke through and shone through Sakura's bedroom window, the exhausted kunoichi merely groaned and turned her head further into her pillow, trying to drown out the sun's soft rays of light. 'I'm _so _tired,' she thought to herself over and over, 'can it really be morning already?'

She rolled out of bed after another minute or so of groaning and mumbling to herself, stretching her arms above her head and letting out a loud yawn. When she had planted securely on the ground, and the blood was now successfully starting to pump throughout her body and engage her brain, the memories of the night before came rushing back at her all at once. More than once, Kankuro's image flooded the forefront of her mind-his meeting her at the hospital, the restaurant, Gaara catching them in the basement, the kiss…

Sakura's eyes widened and she bit her lip, trying to keep her body from trembling. She couldn't have-they wouldn't have…

However, the vivid memories of the kiss they had shared outside her door lingered in her mind, revealing it to be-without a doubt-true. Her lips tingled slightly from the memory of the feel of his lips on hers, and while her body and (she grudgingly admitted) heart were pleased about the sudden turn of events, her more realistic mind was not. What if she got hurt again? What if he was just using her? What if this ruins their friendship? What if it ruins her ambassadorship to Suna?

…And most importantly, what if it meant nothing to him at all?

Sakura resisted the urge to whimper, but it was difficult because of the already clenching pain of her heart; she could plainly feel it blossoming throughout her chest. She brought her hand up to her bosom and gently placed it over her heart, taking a deep breath and sitting back on her bed. She kept taking deep breaths like that for a few minutes, trying to regain her calm and focus her thoughts. Inwardly, she was confused, terrified, and overall completely freaking out. Her feelings for the Sand jounin were apparently much, much stronger than she had originally anticipated, and she was genuinely pleased about their shared kiss, but she knew she wouldn't be able to take it if he was just playing around with her. Somewhere deep, deep down she didn't think that was the case, but the memory of Sasuke's rejection and defection was still fresh on her mind. It also didn't help that she was confused and upset at the moment, so she logically deduced it would be best to listen to her head.

After a few minutes of sitting on the bed and worriedly considering the position she was in, she was finally composed enough to ready herself for a day of work. While she got ready for work and dressed herself, she had come up with a "plan of action". While she was at work, she would ask some of the women she had befriended in the hospital about him, and she would see how likely it was that he would want a real relationship with her. Of course, that wasn't a very fair appraisal of his intent, but she did need to know what kind of a person he was with women. She had always refused to make a decision before without being fully informed, and she would be damned if she started now.

* * *

"Really?" Sakura's eyebrows rose, her expression portraying shock perfectly, even though it was a much different emotion than what she was currently feeling. Betrayal and extreme sadness were one of the top two, of course, but a feeling of bitter hurt and indignation at being used was the most prominent in her heart.

"Yes," the nurse she was talking to muttered disinterestedly, picking at the remains of her sandwich, "Kankuro-sama has been around with a lot of women in this village. He'll talk to them for a little while, testing out the waters, and then if he likes what he sees, he'll use them to get what he wants out of them. Then when they wake up the next morning, he'll be gone." The nurse took another bite of her sandwich, a blank look on her face, as she continued on, showing only the smallest amount of bitterness in her tone, "but of course, there are some of us who don't even deserve the time of day…" She stabbed the plastic fork to her salad into the remains of her sandwich with an almost bestial ferocity, and she stood up violently, nearly knocking her chair back onto the floor. Sakura jumped a little at the loud scraping noise of the chair, but quickly regained her senses when the nurse hastily gathered up the rest of her lunch and turned to Sakura, asking her if she had any more questions for her. Sakura stayed silent, merely shaking her head as an answer, and the nurse stalked off, throwing the remains of her lunch into the garbage can and pushed her way through the break room's door. Sakura's only thought, even through the intense hurt she was feeling at the moment, was, 'Oh wow. Someone's really bitter about being rejected, aren't they?' Fleetingly, the kunoichi allowed herself a very small, hardly amused smile.

* * *

For the next few days after her questioning of her nurse friend, Sakura had made it a point to remain busy in Suna's hospital. After all, she was still trying to teach their staff more advanced techniques. Several of the nin were showing promising talent, and Sakura was no less than ecstatic. It seemed that everyone was getting along with her well within the village, and she was enjoying her stay there immensely.

Kankuro was just…well, Kankuro.

He was still the same loud, brash, smart-ass jounin that he had always been, although in the past few weeks the few people who could call themselves close to the puppet master were observing subtle changes in his persona. For instance, usually the middle sand sibling would walk the around the village for a while after a long day of training, but he had been starting to head home immediately afterwards, and increasingly more often he had been leaving about 5 minutes early from his training sessions. There were also several drastic changes in his demeanor. Where he had used to be extremely gruff in his tone and stand-offish in appearance, lately he had been becoming less and less bitter. He was even smiling sometimes, and helping villagers whenever they asked for it-something he had rarely done before because of the often ridiculous nature of their requests. Most surprisingly of all-to not only his family, but the general community as well-he was being nice to his sister Temari's husband, Shikamaru Nara. While they were off duty they had often made it a point in the past not to look or speak at each other, but lately Kankuro had been tolerating his presence, and even nodding his acknowledgement to the Konoha native.

Naturally, Shikamaru was shocked and immediately ran home to notify his wife of her eldest's brother's sudden change in demeanor.

"He did _what_?" The blonde's mouth hung open, her eyes conveying pure shock. "He never congratulated you on any of your promotions, our becoming a couple _and_ your moving here. He threatened to _kill_ you when you told him of our engagement. Hell, he even sulked and _glared _at you _during _our wedding vows! Why would he acknowledge you _now_?" She finished, completely dumbfounded.

Shikamaru shook his head and replied, "I don't know," and almost immediately muttered under his breath, "troublesome."

"No," Temari corrected her husband, eyes narrowing, "You don't know _yet_." Already her strategist's mind was working frantically, the wheels clicking and turning at a rapid speed. "I know my brother," she spoke, only halfway paying attention to what she was saying, "and he wouldn't change so quickly unless something was going on to change him. The oaf's too stubborn to change on his own." She finished her thought process aloud, her eyes now showing the slightest bit of worry.

Shikamaru took not of this and sighed, dragging a hang over his face, "Don't worry about him, Temari. I'm sure he's fine." The lazy ninja yawned, stretching his arms behind his head as he settled onto the sill of the window behind him. He stretched his legs out the length of the sill, and settled himself into a comfortable position before continuing, "He can take care of himself, even if something _is_ going on. We shouldn't have to get involved, even if I know you want to." He gave his wife a pointed look.

Temari huffed at him, and gave him a glare. "Of course I do, you idiot! He's my little brother, and I don't think you realize just how fragile those two still are from our childhood-at least emotionally. You have no idea what they went through, and my father-"

Shikamaru's arms slipped around her lithe frame at the same time his lips met hers, barely moving at all. Almost instantly he pulled away to see her face flushed with love and embarrassment. He couldn't resist the urge to smirk, and cockily replied, "Well, that shut you up."

Temari ordinarily would have glared and been absolutely outraged at anyone who had the audacity to make that remark and sent them flying back to where they had come from via air, but she only blushed and muttered a quick, barely audible apology. Shikamaru caught it and smiled nonetheless, and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, still holding her.

* * *

Even with all of the changes taking place within Kankuro's family, Sakura was finding it incredibly difficult to pick up on the good mood and Kankuro was starting to take notice. She had been avoiding meals with both himself and Gaara at all costs, and working incredibly late shifts at the hospital so that she would not be able to accidentally run into them. At first, it could all have been easily explained, but after so long, even Kankuro had started to catch on.

Meanwhile, all Sakura could do was work herself to the bone, trying to keep the unshed tears that were so obviously willing to burst from within herself at bay. After the nurses had filled her in on the Kankuro situation, she felt like she was truly ready to die, leave, _anything_ but stay here. She now knew that Kankuro was a playboy-and a rather substantial one at that-so she knew he wasn't serious about her. How _could_ he have been, after she got a glimpse of some of his past flings that the nurses had inadvertently pointed out? They were _gorgeous_. What was she compared to them?

Even now, as Sakura was working in her office, she had trouble keeping back the tears that were threatening to spill. She couldn't stop thinking about either the kiss, Kankuro himself or wondering if she was just one of the girls he wanted in the sack. More importantly, though, she couldn't help but constantly hope besides the very slim chance she had that he actually had feelings for her. That was what hurt the worst-the constant hope in her heart and the logic that it would never happen. Even if she was frightened about giving her heart away to someone, she wouldn't mind taking the chance and giving it to Kankuro, even in her terrified state-as long as he loved her back. She had been through a one-sided love "relationship" once, and now she feared it was happening again with Kankuro and herself.

Talk about pathetic. What was she, twelve again?

She could only let out a tiny sob and bury her face in her hands, the tears she had so desperately been trying to hold back now cascading from her eyes. The intensity of the sobs now grew frantic, as her mind replayed images of him in the arms of a different woman every night. It was then that she realized she was in love with him.

How could she have been so stupid? She should have never bothered with him, talked to him, hell, even looked at him! Now she had to deal with all of this heartbreak and pain all over again, only of course now it was a hundred times worse. Why did God hate her so much as to make her fall for men that were horrible for her-why?

She could only cradle her pink locks in her fingers as her head slowly came to rest on her desk. She was too caught up in her thoughts of him and her own inner turmoil to notice her eyes drifting shut and her body growing weary. She was too immersed in her despair to realize that she was slowly crying herself to sleep, just as she had done every night since Sasuke had left when they were twelve.

* * *

Kankuro was walking the calm, empty streets of Suna at an unusually late hour, but it couldn't be helped. Ever since Sakura had started to ignore him, his own mind was entering a more and more distressed state. He was losing sleep and his own sanity, his thoughts only focused on her; in his profession, that was a horrible thing, but he could not bring himself to hate either himself or her for it. She wasn't a bad person, really, and it was his own damn fault that he was attracted to her.

Really, though, what was wrong with her? She had been avoiding him ever since they had shared that kiss. It honestly wasn't anything drastic-sure it was a big change in their acquaintanceship, but they would have worked that out long ago if she hadn't been avoiding him. It frustrated him to no end, knowing that this could be over with-that his mistake could have been remedied-if only she would be willing to listen to him.

He knew from experience, however, that Sakura Haruno was not hard-headed for just any reason. There was always a reason for her to intentionally change her demeanor towards someone so quickly, and-taking into account of their unexpected kiss-Kankuro logically deduced it was her way of rejecting him.

He froze in place in the middle of the alley of which he was currently walking. No…she wasn't rejecting him, was she?

Yes. Yes, she was!

What a cowardly thing to do, to hide away in an office like that because of one kiss, and to completely avoid him, her friend, after he took advantage of her faith. Yes, he deserved it, _yes_, he was an ass, but she should still be able to give him a straight response!

He gritted his teeth in annoyance, trying to tell himself that he was upset more about her lack of faith in him rather than the actual heart-wrenching pain of rejection. Who was he to care if someone rejected him? There was always someone else that he could find, someone who could replace her in his heart…

As if it heart that thought, a heavy pain blossomed from within the puppet master's chest, spreading its poison throughout every muscle and surface of his body. His whole frame shook with the pain of it, and he resisted the urge to fall on his knees.

However, he was not stupid-it was one thing that Kankuro of the sand was not-but this feeling, this intense pain, was making him so. She was the only thing causing it, and he had to get rid of it somehow.

What if…what if he got rid of her? Sent her back to Konoha…?

Yes, that could possibly work!

He instantly set off toward her office inside the hospital, already knowing that was where she would be at such a time of night-she was still trying to avoid him after all. Ignoring the lingering pain and protests from within his heart, his mind was frantically cheering, screaming and encouraging him to get rid of her once and for all.

Kankuro of the sand didn't fall in love. What was he, a sentimental fool?

No!

He continued on his way, his mind set and a new determination burning in his eyes. He would get rid of her, he would!

Finally he reached the hospital and made his way up the stairs into hospital's office area. He knew where Sakura's office was-he had been here before, when they weren't fighting. He navigated the twists and turns of the dark, dimly lit hallways and finally came to a stop at her door. After feeling one last twinge of pain from his chest, he hardened his resolve, jaw set, and opened the door only to find a sleeping Sakura, tears dried on her face, and resting on a mountain of paperwork.

Suddenly all of Kankuro's anger turned to naught, and the thought of "God dammit" was the last thought his sudden independent side had before he gathered his pink angel into his arms and took her home to her warm, soft bed.

* * *

Sound familiar? :3

Haha! Read on! xD

Btw, Kankuro? You fail at being angry at women. ^^

-K.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey guuyyysss! xD  
Lol. Now that that's over with...

Sorry about the wait! ^^

* * *

Kankuro stood inside his little brother's office, awaiting further instructions as Gaara stood, staring out of his window. Although he was curious as to why he had been summoned into Gaara's office so early in the day (usually he called Temari and himself in later in the day if he needed to talk to them in order to get everything prioritized), Kankuro knew better than to pester Gaara about his reasons for summoning his elder brother. It greatly irked him when he did, and eventually his little brother would come out with it. Besides, Kankuro understood that the only reason Gaara took so long before speaking was because he needed a few moments to properly formulate his instructions.

"Kankuro," the red head clearly stated, "I am placing you with ANBU team one for their upcoming mission. They're short one member for the time being due to Hikari-san's recent injuries, and she has not yet been cleared by hospital administrators. You both specialize in long range attacks, and you are the most capable for this job. Do you accept?"

"Yes," Kankuro gave a very slight bow, because he knew he was in the presence of his Kage right now…not his brother, "How long will this mission last?"

"I expect it to take at least two weeks," Gaara curtly answered, "however it could be longer. It's an assassination mission; your target, however, will prove to be a challenge." Turning around from his window gazing, he focused his eyes on Kankuro for the first time during this meeting, and his expression sobered dramatically before he continued, "This is a very important mission, Kankuro. I suggest you take it very seriously. Not only will this eliminate a serious problem of ours within an illegal trade-which consists of several different unspeakable activities-this will create an alliance and strengthen trade between Sunagakure and Kirigakure. I expect that you understand what that would mean for us if this alliance is achieved."

Silently, Kankuro nodded in understanding.

"I am sorry for this, Kankuro," Gaara raked a hand tiredly over his face, as he settled back into his office's chair, which was comfortably situated behind his desk, "There really is no one else qualified to take this mission right now, and I know you'll be able to make it a success." He shoved the mission briefing report across his desk towards his older brother and continued, "Briefly look this over for the finer details, and I'll take any questions you may have at this time. You and your team leave at dusk."

* * *

Sakura sighed as a knock interrupted her "studying" session. Honestly, on her first day off in several weeks she couldn't even read in peace. She removed herself from her bed, where she had previously been laying with several medical books and loose pages of notes sprawled out among the sheets. Within moments, she was at her door and pulled it open to reveal none other than Kankuro himself. She greatly resisted the urge to gasp and look away in shame, but her more stubborn Inner Sakura refused to allow her to do so. Instead, she glared defiantly back up at him. In that moment, she had decided she would be strong about the whole situation, and get some answers.

"Kankuro," she greeted, her expression stony, "were you needing something?"

"Yes, actually," he replied, before glancing around and making sure she didn't have company, "may I come in?"

Something grated greatly on Sakura's nerves at that suggestion, but she silently stepped aside and granted him entrance into her room anyway.

Kankuro could see the books and papers strewn about her bed, and an involuntary smirk crossed his face as soon as the sight registered in his mind. "Working late again, Sakura?" He joked.

"You would know," she snapped at him before she had really realized that she had said anything. He merely raised his eyebrows at her.

"Really, Sakura," he sobered, "that was cold."

Deciding to just go with her feelings, she lunged at him and punched his chest with a non-chakra enhanced closed fist. Angrily she spat, "Not as cold as what you did to _me_!"

Kankuro twisted himself out of the rosette's way, and he automatically recorrected his stance and position so that he was now at her side. He was trying to be patient with her, but it was difficult since he was angry at her at the same time. "Sakura, what are you talking about?" He tried to ask diplomatically.

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT!" She screeched. "You know damn well what I'm talking about! You _kissed_ me! You stole my first kiss and you have no intention of returning any kind of feelings for me, like I have for you!" She was admitting things she knew she shouldn't, but he was just so angry. Her eyes were brimming with tears, and as she furiously turned away and blinked, they cascaded rapidly down her cheeks. "You're just a playboy, and you're out for all you can get out of me. Well, I've figured you out, and if that's what you're after, leave. Now. You're not getting anything else out of this kunoichi."

Kankuro could no longer hold in his anger, after hearing her accusing him of being things that he knew deep down were indeed true. "Who are you to talk to me like that, Sakura? You led me on just as much as I did you-these feelings are mutual! Not _once _would I take advantage of someone like that, _least_ of all you! You actually give a damn about my family and I, you _saved_ my _life_, and you're the most beautiful, wonderful person I've ever met!" He reached for her arm and angrily jerked her towards him, trapping her in a fierce embrace. He caught his lips with hers in a hot, passionate kiss, and after she ran out of breath he pressed her head into his chest and tucked his head on top of hers. "I love you," he whispered, "I would honestly never do something like that to you, regardless of my past, which I have always, _always_ regretted."

Sakura resisted the urge to sob as she buried her face further into his chest. His scent was relaxing, intoxicating…he smelled like wood polish with earthy hues. It was incredibly masculine, and although Sakura wished she could always stay there, she had to know if what he said was true or not. She didn't know if she could-_should_-believe him, but there was something so sincere about his actions and tone. She pulled herself out of his embrace and fearlessly focused her own gaze into his eyes. As uncharacteristic as it was for the Jounin to show emotion at all, it was there, written plainly in his expression and eyes, and it was only for _her_ to see. An unmistakable warmth was swirling behind those dark brown pools, allowing Sakura and only Sakura to gaze into them in such an intimate way. More tears escaped from Sakura's eyes, and a watery smile automatically replaced the angry scowl from before. The same warmth was evident now in her emerald orbs, and they betrayed no doubt as she steadily returned his look of intense affection. Reaching her hand up to softly caress his cheek, she replied in a soft whisper, "I love you too, Kankuro. You don't even know how much."

An automatic grin stole over his face at that, and he picked her up by the middle and twirled her around her room. She erupted in giggles, and when he finally set her down she wiped her eyes free of all tears with the sleeve of her shirt. "Sheesh Kankuro," she laughed, "I didn't think you'd be that crazy about it!"

"You have no idea," he tenderly replied, and leaned in to kiss her forehead tenderly, running his hands down her arms. "I really do love you, Sakura."

"I love you too, Kankuro." She smiled at him.

Again, he felt that same insane happiness at her confession, but a sense of sadness and guilt replaced in in his chest when he thought of why he came here in the first place.

"Sakura?" He cautiously asked, "I actually do have a reason I came here. I need to tell you something."

Instantly, she snapped her head up at him, worriedly gazing up at him. "Yes, Kankuro?" She asked, concern lacing her tone.

Kankuro wrapped her in a tight embrace again before continuing, "I'm leaving for a mission in a few hours, and I won't be back for a few weeks."

Sakura pulled out of his embrace for a second time that evening, and met his gaze evenly. A flicker of disappointment shone in her eyes, but she understood. The life of a shinobi was a hard, unpredictable one, and you never knew when someone would be called away. She gave him a small smile nonetheless and merely kissed him tenderly in response. Words were not needed...if either of the two said anything to each other, then it would be goodbye-a dangerous thing for a shinobi to say.

Unable to help himself, Kankuro deepened the kiss, moving one of his hands behind her head once again, and settled his other hand on the small of her back, effectively pressing her closer to his own, muscular frame. Allowing the hand that was previously situated at the back of her head to move upwards, he slowly started running his fingers through her wavy pink locks, and he had to bite back a groan when he felt how soft they were. He resisted the urge to bury his face in it and just smell it.

He pulled back from their heated kiss in order to let her breathe, and continued to press light kisses all of the way down her cheeks to her jawline and downward to her collarbone. Nibbling slightly, he softly bit, kissed and worked the sensitive skin on her shoulder blade and collarbone, and whenever he'd find an especially sensitive spot, he'd pay particular attention to that location.

Intermittently, Sakura would let out a low moan whenever he would find just the right spot and mark it. It was all she could do to clutch onto him for support because of the pleasure he was giving her just from these simple actions.

When he was satisfied that she had enough small, purplish marks all over the sensitive skin, he finally returned his attentions hungrily to her lips and picked her up, his hands placed under her butt for support.

"Sakura," he moaned longingly, nearly unable to form a coherent thought, "are you-"

"Yes," Sakura gasped into the shell of his ear, tilting her head to better access it so she could nibble on his earlobe, "please, Kankuro. I want you."

Without any hesitation on his part, Kankuro proceeded to carry her over to her bed. He gently set her down upon the only clear portion of the comforter that wasn't currently covered by her miscellaneous medical supplies. He slung his arm across the top of the sheets, effectively clearing the books and papers off of the surface of the bed as they hit the floor with a loud thud, and slowly crawled on top of her, lust and hunger reflected in his gaze.

Briefly, Sakura registered the loud crashing noises of her medical books hitting the ground, and she spared them a glance before turning back to Kankuro with a pout. "My books!" She whined, and he pressed his lips over hers in another heated kiss almost as soon as she had completed the phrase. He paused only long enough to pull his lips away from hers and mutter, "I'll buy you new ones," before attacking her lips with his own again. After she let out a particularly sultry moan and he gazed into her heated, glazed over eyes and saw her lips swollen and red from his kisses, he shook with pleasure and let out a low moan of his own. Longingly and tenderly, he added to his previous statement, "God…you're so beautiful, blossom."

He moved his hands up and down her torso slowly, lingering only in the places that made her involuntarily suck in her breath from sensitivity. He made sure to breathe his hot breath everywhere possible on her open, inviting and unblemished creamy skin. This in turn, would make her squirm and cry out, and he loved hearing those little noises coming from his cherry blossom.

Slowly, oh so slowly, they started removing each other's clothing. First to go was Sakura's shirt, and Kankuro practically attacked her nipples through her bra, making them go hard through the fabric. Then Kankuro's shirt was removed, and Sakura was rewarded with her first ever view of his chiseled stomach…

All too quickly, they were both bare, and he was pressed against her entrance, teasingly waiting for her okay. She kissed him, hard, and he groaned as he sank into her oh so slowly. After he was home, he paused a moment, waiting for her to adjust to his girth. She on the other hand, was in slight pain, but felt more lustful than anything. She could feel every bit of him-every vein, every ridge…

Then he moved inside her and they both had to suppress their loud moans of pleasure. Soon enough, Kankuro established a fairly rapid pace, which quickly brought her to release once, twice, three times and with three final long, powerful thrusts, Kankuro released with her on her final orgasm.

They both lay tangled in the sheets, clutching onto each other as best they could with the all of the sweat generated from their previous activities mingling on their skin. They both laid in silence for a few moments, attempting to once again steady their breathing and heart rates. Kankuro pulled Sakura in close to his own body, and tucked her head into his chest, resting his head on hers again like he had shortly after his confession not long ago. He could feel her unsteady breathing on the skin of his chest, and it tickled the slightest bit. With his own breathing almost back to normal, he once again tightened his grip on her in his hold and leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. He smiled to himself as he laid his head back on her pillow, and found himself thinking how perfect this moment was-how perfect she was. She really was nothing like all of the other girls he had previously bothered with. The main difference, of course, was that he was completely in love with her, unlike the other girls. That made it all the better for both of them.

He laid there with her in his arms until he was sure she was in a deep enough sleep that he would be able to leave the room without awakening her. For some reason, it felt like a challenge for him to not wake her up. He just didn't want to disturb that peaceful, happy expression on her face.

Silently, he got dressed in his previously discarded clothes that were strewn about all over the floor, in addition to picking up the medical books and papers that he had knocked to the floor preceding their lovemaking. She was right-some of them were ruined. He frowned. It had not been his intention to ruin her medical books. Although, like he promised her, he would replace them for her. Hell, he'd buy her new ones in addition to these. A small, content smile crossed the puppet master's face. He'd buy her anything as long as it made her happy.

Glancing at the clock on her wall, he saw that he had only 30 minutes to get ready to go and already be at the gates. Grimacing, he spared a glance toward the bed again and saw Sakura asleep, curled up under the covers. How he wished he didn't have to leave her.

He made his way over to the bed, and quietly leaned over her curled, sleeping form and gave her a final goodbye kiss on her forehead. Although he really didn't want to wake her, he couldn't resist the urge to run his fingers through her hair one last time, either, and upon feeling the softness of the locks, even if they were slightly coated in sweat, he sighed with contentment. How she got her hair to be so soft, he had no idea. As he pulled his hand away, he whispered, "I'll be back before you know it. I love you, Sakura," and he turned on his heel to walk away before the temptation to disobey orders and stay was too great. Unfortunately for him, though, he was rewarded one last pang of guilt, because he heard her soft reply as he walked out of her bedroom door, "I'll wait for you."

* * *

AAAANNNNDDDDDDD….CUT!

xD So what did you all think? Cuz I thought it was totallyyy cuuuutteeee 3 *is really hyper*

Soo as usual, leave meh things! Love you guys! 3

-THE KAS. xD


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